Love Ourselves In The Other
by delenadrabbles
Summary: Damon and Elena decide to help protect Katherine - focusing on on their complicated relationships with a slight kink. Possible OOC, O/S.


**A/N: I quite liter****ally wrote this in a couple hours on like 3 glasses of wine, sooooo. In otherwords, it's barely edited, so I'm sorry for any mistakes.**

**I don't know where this came from, to be honest. I'm not planning on continuing this further at the moment, although I suppose you never know. I just had a spark of inspiration concerning Damon/Katherine/Elena in a more familial relationship with a touch of kink ;) Haha, let me know if you like it!**

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"Damon, I don't know what to do," she said in a quiet voice, so uncharacteristic of the Katherine Pierce that he had come to know and loath throughout the years. It almost reminded him of Elena, except Katherine's tight whisper was not tinged with compassion or courage. She just seemed desperate. "I don't know how to be human. I don't know how to protect myself this way. I've never had to…"

"…rely on anybody?" He turned away from the blazing fire to see the once fierce and deadly doppelganger curled up in blanket on his leather couch, her form hunched and shaking. She was still recovering from her first foray in sinus infections in almost 700 years, and Damon could only imagine how rough it was for her. He sighed and pursed his lips together. It was disconcerting to see her this way. He thought he would find satisfaction, vindication more like, in seeing her so fragile and broken. However, all he could muster was pity. And maybe a strange sense of protectiveness.

"Yeah, that," she bite out, as if it was a nasty word. He understood the feeling, however, of being afraid and unwilling to let anybody in. Hell, he had been like that for over a century before meeting Elena. Pouring them both a generous glass of Maker's Mark, he handed a glass to her and watched her cradle it close to her while shrugging his blanket even tighter over her shoulders before he gingerly sat down on the other end of the sofa.

"Katherine-" he started and stopped, unsure exactly what he wanted to say, torn between comforting her and snarking her out.

"It's okay, Damon. I know exactly what you're going to say," she threw up a hand in pause. She bit her lip and closed her eyes briefly, almost like it pained her to realize her next words were true. "This is my fault. I deserve this. I've done horrible things, and it's never bothered me before. I always put myself first. I did everything I had to do in order to stay alive. I manipulated and tortured and killed more people than I can remember. In in the end, where has that gotten me?"

"Screwed," he said plainly, "and not in the fun way."

Her lips quirked up infinitesimally at the jib. She took a sip of her bourbon, and then so did he, and then so did she. They fell into a comfortable silence, both contemplating the respective predicaments they found themselves in as of late. The fire had begun to die when Katherine slowly began to scoot closer toward Damon's end of the sofa and tentatively rest her head on his shoulder.

He looked down at her in surprise. His first instinct was to shove her off him, but she looked so small sitting there. And she wasn't really doing much, he supposed. He released a deep sigh, and brought his glass up to his lips once more.

"Damon?" Katherine looked up at him, tilting her head up so her chin was resting on his shoulder. He made a questioning hum noise, not bothering to turn his head in her direction. She scooted even closer to him, pressing her body into his, and pressed a kiss on his jaw.

He immediately snapped his head away from her and pushed her forcefully across the couch, forgetting she was now much more fragile than before. "Kat, what the fuck?"

She straightened, a little wince escaping her lips as she touched her hand to where her shoulder had collided with the arm of the couch. Noticing this, Damon deflated, his anger gone. It seemed he kept forgetting these new roles they were both playing and falling into old patterns. After all, she had been his sire for over 170 years. Stronger, faster, and better at all things vampire than him. It was hard to reconcile that he was now the stronger of the two; that a little shove could hurt her.

"Shit, Kat. I'm sorry." He awkwardly reached his hand out to her before taking it back, not knowing what to do.

Of all things, Katherine began to laugh one of the saddest laughs he'd ever heard. "By all means, I get it. I mean…after everything…I don't know what I expected."

"God, Katherine. Those days have long since passed, okay. This new humanity thing doesn't change anything." And yet, as he said the words, there is a part of him that knew this Katherine in front of him was exactly all that his human self would have hoped her to be. "Besides, I'm with Elena," he threw in for good measure.

She let out a small snort, although completely devoid of malice. "I know, Damon. I just…" she trailed off slightly, her voice growing smaller as she refused to make eye contact, "didn't want to feel so alone."

And suddenly he felt the tugging feeling inside his chest again. It hadn't been present around Katherine in a long time, but he would be able to recognize it anywhere. No, the tugging wasn't connected to love or lust anymore, but when he looked at this girl he'd known for a century curl up in a ball alone and helpless, he couldn't deny he still felt a terrible need to protect her. To keep her safe. He couldn't deny there was still some kind of connection between them, whether it was the blood or the shared history to blame.

He supposed he was just fucked when it concerned doe-eyed doppelgangers.

"Come here," he sighed almost in resignation, lifting his arm out for her to curl under.

"What?" Katherine glanced up at him with her arms carefully folded in front of her, a defensive gleam in her eyes.

He leaned back into the sofa cushions and wiggled his arm out again. Letting himself lazily smile at her, he repeated, "_Come here._"

She tentatively returned the smile without a word and curled up underneath Damon's arm, pulling his blanket up to her waist. It wasn't until two hours later when Katherine had long ago fallen asleep on his chest that Elena came home. He looked up to see his girlfriend approaching, a questioning quirk in her brow. He placed the book he was reading down on the sidetable along with his long ago emptied glass, and raised his arm from Kat's shoulders onto the back of the couch. "Look, I know you're mad. But it's really not what it looks like."

"I'm not jumping to conclusions here, Damon. It's okay, I don't think you guys had wild monkey sex here in the living room," she commented much more nonchalantly than Damon believed she was. He figured it was probably not the best time to make an inappropriate joke about how they had actually fucked in the kitchen.

He moved to stand, but Elena waved him to stop and instead opted to sit down on the other side of her doppelganger's sleeping frame. She sighed, locking eyes with her boyfriend. "So what's the story?"

"Nothing, really. She was just… you know. Upset. Lonely. She just kind of needed someone," he turned his head away from her, afraid of seeing his girlfriend's anger. "I know you hate her. I get it. I'm sorry."

He heard Elena sigh, but there wasn't any immediate yelling, so he turned his head back to face her. He watched her open her mouth and then quickly press her lips together in contemplation. "I did hate her, Damon. Or do, I don't know. She did absolutely horrible things to me. She killed my brother. And one of my best friends. She ruined you and Stefan's relationship."

She paused, but Damon knew she wasn't done speaking. He waited quietly for her to continue. "When I shoved the cure down Katherine's throat, I was being vindictive and vengeful and malicious. I don't like myself that way. And I don't want to be like that anymore. I think…I think I can try to put my feelings for her aside. At least for now, anyway."

"Seriously?" Damon looked at her incredulously. Sometimes he couldn't believe the amount of compassion his girlfriend possessed. Or maybe the rules were different when the person looked exactly like you. He wasn't sure, but he could only imagine hurting someone with your face would be like hurting a part of yourself. "You think you could do that?"

"I want to. I want to be a better person. I don't want to let hate fuel me anymore. Besides, turning Katherine human was probably one of the worst things I could have ever done to her, so I doubt I'll be able to top it anytime soon," Elena voice grew softer at that, almost regretful at the desperate state Katherine was in. She wasn't quite sorry for what she did, but she felt sorry for her. Elena tentatively reached a hand out toward the sleeping girl and let her fingers softly comb her hair back from her face.

"I never asked you how you feel about all of this," Elena turned her eyes back up to gaze at her boyfriend, seeing him look at her curiously. "I had always just assumed you hated her just as much as I did, but it's clear you still feel something for her."

Damon inhaled, turning his body ever so slightly toward her and let his arm fall back down onto the elder doppelganger's shoulders. "Elena, you don't have to worry. I'm not, nor will I ever again be, in love with Katherine."

She quirked her lips into a smile at him, reaching forward him to take his spare hand in hers. "I know, and I'm not worried. I just realize that you guys might have some kind of connection. After all, she turned you and Stefan. You spent years in love with her. You've been through a lot. It's understandable."

Before Damon could formulate a response, he felt Katherine stir on top of him and slowly flutter her eyes open. "…Elena?" she uttered, confused.

She laughed lightly, letting her fingers once again stroke through her doppelganger's hair. "Yeah, it's me, Katherine."

"He pushed me away," she muttered unintelligibly to her, her eyes still half-slitted in sleep.

Elena looked up to Damon in confusion, who gave an exaggerated shrug in response. She rolled her eyes, deciding she didn't need to know. "It's okay. You just sleep," she reassured her, marveling at how much more innocent Katherine seemed now. How much she could already see her humanity shining through. She bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her flushed temple.

Katherine reached up, grabbing her wrist in her weak grasp. "Are you going to help me?" she whispered to the two most unlikely people to say yes.

Damon's eyes immediately found Elena's, silently trying to figure out what they were going to do. Would they really help Katherine? Their once arch nemesis? Would they really protect her?

He saw Elena purse her lips together in determination and give the slightest of nods and knew that, yes, yes they were.

"Yeah, we're going to help you," Elena soothed, bringing her hand around to cup her doppelganger's cheek comfortingly. Whether it was spontaneity, or curiosity, or just an extension of her compassion, Elena then pressed her lips lightly to Katherine's in a gentle caress.

Damon thought he was hallucinating. He was almost positive he was until Elena licked her bottom lip and kissed her once again. He saw Katherine's eyes widen fractionally, but she didn't protest or say anything, in fact. Damon idly wondered if she believed she was still asleep.

He turned back to see his girlfriend looking at him with that cute, little wide eyed look she got sometimes. He didn't know why she did it, but he had to admit that it strangely didn't bother him. He shook his head, a small laugh escaping through his teeth. He couldn't get enough.

Leaning over Katherine, Elena placed her small hand on his neck and pressed her mouth to his. He deepened the kiss, nibbling at her lip and slowly opening her mouth to caress her tongue with his own. He never got tired of kissing Elena. Whether they were sweet good morning kisses, or slow and comforting kisses, or deep 'I want to fuck you now' kisses, they were always perfect.

She broke away from him after a minute, glancing back down at Katherine and seeing that she was still fighting sleep. His eyes warmed seeing his sire so childish and small and defenseless. He pursed his lips together in determination before also bringing his head down and pressing his mouth to hers as a silent promise he'd keep her safe. After more than a year plus a supernatural transformation later, her lips still tasted the same: soft but unyielding with a hint of pomegranate. He pulled back after a few seconds, seeing a small smile on his former lover's face before her eyes fluttered close.

He smiled in return, and looked up to see Elena with a gentle expression. "Do you think we should bring her up to one of the guest rooms?" she asked in a hushed voice.

He nodded and stood up, scooping up the doppelganger laying on his shoulder all the way into his arms in the process. Pressing his lips to the crown of her head, he sighed, "Don't worry, Kat. We won't let anything happen to you."

And as the last embers in the fireplace ceased to glow, the couple carried their sire up the stairs and tucked her gently into bed.


End file.
